Pink Saris
(96 minutes) India

Director: Kim Longinotto
Producers: Amber Latif, Girjashanker Vohra

Description:
“A girl’s life is cruel...A woman’s life is very cruel,” notes Sampat Pal, the complex protagonist at the center of Pink Saris.  Sampat should know­­––like many others she was married as a young girl into a family that made her work hard and beat her often. But unusually, she fought back, leaving her in-laws and eventually becoming famous as a champion for beleaguered women throughout Uttar Pradesh, many of who find their way to her doorstep. Like Rekha, a fourteen-year-old Untouchable, who is three months pregnant and homeless but unable to marry her unborn child’s father because of her low caste. Or fifteen-year-old Renu, whose husband from an arranged marriage has abandoned her, her father-in-law has been raping her and she’s threatening to throw herself under a train. Both young women, frightened and desperate, reach out for their only hope: Sampat Pal and her Gulabi Gang, Northern India’s women vigilantes in pink.  Pink Saris is an unflinching and often amusing look at these unlikely political activists and their charismatic leader. In extraordinary scenes, we watch Sampat launch herself into the center of family dramas, witnessed by scores of spectators, convinced her mediation is the best path for these vulnerable girls. Her partner Babuji, who has watched Sampat change over the years, is less certain...

Biography:
Internationally acclaimed director Kim Longinotto is renowned for creating extraordinary human portraits and tackling controversial topics with sensitivity and compassion. Longinotto’s films have won international acclaim and dozens of premiere awards at festivals worldwide, including the World Cinema Jury Prize in Documentary at Sundance for Rough Aunties. Highlights include perhaps one of her best known works, Sisters In Law, winner of a 2008 Peabody Award and two Cannes awards, including the Cannes Prix art et Essai Award, as well as The Day I Will Never Forget, Divorce Iranian Style, Dream Girls and Shinjuku Boys. Longinotto studied camera and directing at England’s National Film School (NFS), where she made Pride of Place, a critical look at her boarding school, and Theatre Girls, documenting a hostel for homeless women.

Contact Information:
Women Make Movies
E-mail: kfitzpatrick@wmm.com
Web site: www.wmm.com